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Maech 21. 1907. 



The Weekly Rorists' Review. 



1349 



A Church Decoration at Easter^ the Work of the Wittbold G)., Chicago. 



quite freely discussed, this evil occur- 

 ring chiefly with agents at country sta- 

 tions who seldom receive plant ship- 

 ments and either do not know or care 

 about the special discounts, or are paid 

 on a commission basis and naturally are 

 interested in collecting as full an 

 amount of charges as possible. The 

 shippers are desirous of having some 

 plan adopted whereby each shipment 

 may carry marks showing weight and 

 correct amount of charges to be paid by 

 consignee on arrival at destination, and 

 to this end a committee consisting of 

 Eoy McGregor, of The McGregor Bros. 

 Co., and Leman Bradford, of The 

 Springfield Floral Co., was appointed 

 to confer with the express agents and 

 endeavor to formulate a plan for the 

 use of the members of the club. While 

 some of the shippers are accustomed to 

 notify each and every customer by 

 means of a postal-card of having made 

 a shipment and stating the amount of 

 charges to be paid, others thought this 

 an unnecessary waste of labor and post- 

 age and that the express companies 

 should devise such safeguards against 

 overcharges as to render such a notice 

 unnecessary. The agents present ex- 

 pressed a willingness to take up the 

 matter with their respective companies, 

 only one of the oflBces having authority 

 in the matter at the present time. It 

 was stated, however, that the extra work 

 involved would probably necessitate the 

 employment of an extra man. in each 

 oflSce in order to properly mark each 

 shipment, the calling and billing now 

 being done in a very rapid manner dur- 

 ing the busy portion of each day. 



As a return favor, the agents in- 

 quired as to the possibility of the ex- 

 press companies carrying a considerably 

 larger portion of the 10-cent, 15-cent 

 and 25-cent packages which are being 

 sent quite generally by mail, the argu- 

 ment being advanced that they give a 



receipt for each shipment, which Uncle 

 Sam does not do, and carry it just as 

 quickly and more safely for 2 cents 

 less on the average shipment under four 

 pounds weight. The larger shippers 

 practically stated that the express com- 

 panies were welcome to help themselves 

 to whatever they might find in their 

 mailing rooms which could be carried to 

 advantage. 



A vote of thanks was tendered to the 

 agents for their presence and free dis- 

 cussion of the various subjects touched 

 upon, and the joint conference was con- 

 ceded to have been decidedly beneficial 

 to all concerned. Ge Dale. 



CHURCH DECORATIONS. 



The accompanying illustration shows 

 a typical Easter church decoration of 

 the better class, such a decoration as 

 many florists are called upon to put up 

 in more or less elaborate form every 

 year in one or more houses of worship 

 for the Sabbath morning when all nature 

 dons its spring attire. The illustration 

 is prepareu from a photograph made by 

 the George "Wittbold Co. Easter morn- 

 ing, 1906, and now used as a means of 

 securing orders for similar worK for the 

 approaching Easter. It gives not only 

 an idea of how they treated the audito- 

 rium,which is such a one as is not easily 

 decorateu, but it suggests the thought 

 that any florist who has facilities to 

 spare for outside work at Easter can 

 easily get this kind of orders by suggest- 

 ing the subject in good season to the 

 church people of his neighborhood. It 

 also brings to mind the remark of a cer- 

 tain wholesaler who was arguing that the 

 price of lilies should not be greatly ad- 

 vanced this year simply because Easter 

 is early and some growers will not have 

 their stock ready. Said he: "The bulk 

 of the lilies are used for church deco- 

 rations, and church people are not those 



with the most money, or the freest spend- 

 ers. Put your prices too high and you 

 shut off the buying and use of lilies. ' ' 

 The usual retail price of lilies, 25 cents 

 per bud, is about all that can oe expected 

 if any quantity are to be sold, and in 

 large decorations it is often necessary to 

 shaue this considerably. But the deco- 

 rator should always make a profit on the 

 stock he uses, on his time and facilities 

 and nave something left to compensate 

 him for his special abilities in the line 

 of artistic work. 



GROFFS HYBRID GLADIOLI. 



In Mr. Childs' comment on my re- 

 marks before the American Breeders' 

 Association he goes on to say that if 

 perchance one should happen to find a 

 good color among my hybrids, the same 

 color could be found among Lemoine's 

 hybrids. I passed this over in my re- 

 ply, but who ever heard that any 

 originator had a monopoly of color 

 when all have access to the original 

 species, the source of all existing colors 

 and combinations of color? 



Mr. Childs seems to have forgotten 

 that my early hybrids were awarded the 

 prize at New York in 1900 by the So- 

 ciety of American Florists over his com- 

 bined sections of Lemoine, Childsi and 

 Gandavensis. Surely such a competent 

 jury found some other quality than 

 color against the exhibit of the world's 

 largest grower, at home. 



In 1901 the Pan-American exposi- 

 tion gave my hybrids a gold medal over 

 competition well known to Mr. Childs. 

 Their judges, too, chanced to discover 

 the good colors — and something else. 



M. PhiUppe de Vilmorin, of Vilmorin, 

 Audrieux & Co., Paris, France, one of 

 the best informed men in the world, 

 whose firm is an extensive handler of 

 Lemoine and other high-class French 

 hybrids, came repeatedly to the exhibits 



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